Short-handed Lakers battle but fall just short vs Bucks

The Los Angeles Lakers capped off a hectic trade deadline with a national television matchup against one of the top Eastern Conference contenders, the Milwaukee Bucks. LeBron James sat this one out after an emotional and ceremonious game against the OKC Thunder on Tuesday night.

Enjoy…it might be more entertaining than the game was.

Add the fact that six players got shipped out in the last 36 hours, the Lakers had to play the Darvin Ham way, play hard, smart and compete. Which they did.

The Los Angeles Lakers had every excuse in the bag to fold and battled, but they eventually fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 115-106. The staff of Lake Show Life blasted this team for the lack of effort and energy in their loss to OKC on Tuesday night. Why?

It’s because the Lake Show didn’t compete like this.

The Lakers continue to slide down the standings, so get used to the “The Lakers are ‘fill-in-the-blank’ games out of the playoff picture and play-in tournament”. Like winning a couple of games a week isn’t part of the equation.

The good of the Los Angeles Lakers loss: 

Someone found Anthony Davis!

To understand this headline, let’s go back to the last post-game report from the staff of Lake Show Life…

"Anthony Davis:One Adam 12…One Adam 12…putting out an APB for a tall guy with an afro with a number 3 on his jersey…"

This has nothing to do with the ridiculous reports of AD not standing up and applauding when LeBron James broke the record. This has everything to do with not standing up and contributing in a game that the Los Angeles Lakers really need at this point of the season.

AD came out aggressive and scored the first 8 points for the Lake Show which was over half the total he tallied against the Thunder with frontcourt players that are not in the same galaxy talent-wise to a Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Then in the third quarter, it looked like a carbon copy of the beginning of the game with AD looking for his offense.

Welcome back AD (Or his aggressiveness!) as he finished with 23 points, 16 rebounds and 2 assists.

Austin Reaves…did…his…THING!

Reaves had his first official return a couple of days ago in the Thunder game, but this game is when he returned!

This guy is going to be a vital part of the Lakers’ rotation when that hamstring gets back to full strength. He had 13 points before the half, but the swagger was there. If you don’t believe it, just look at the video again and then try not to get hurt in the backyard trying to copy it.

Austin finished with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. He looked very smooth on the court in this game.

Dennis Schroder has no more excuses!

Whether it was the “Russ” effect being a distraction attributing to Schroder’s inconsistencies or Pat-Bev’s showcasing minutes to get a trade (Well it worked!), now is the time for Dennis to put up or shut up for the rest of the year.

After playing absolutely terrible game on Tuesday, Schroder had a masterclass in this one.

Dennis finished with 25 points and 12 assists with NO TURNOVERS! A near perfect game running the offense. Now can he do with LeBron in the lineup?

The bad of the Los Angeles Lakers loss: 

Giannis Antetokounmpo played…

This dude is the most unstoppable force in the NBA and it is not even close. Giannis is powerful, athletic and will not bail out opponents by shooting outside shots all night long. Just imagine where the Lakers would be if AD was THIS aggressive every single night!

This wasn’t the only spectacular display of power that the “Greek Freak” displayed in this game. he finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds and  6 assists. What makes this so impressive is that some of our Lake Show Life readers could have shot better from the 3-point line than the Bucks in this game. He single-handedly kept Milwaukee in the game while his teammates kept throwing up bricks in the first half.

The third quarter…  

38-23 and the game was over. The Lakers did not have enough firepower and ran out of gas after halftime. Meanwhile, the Bucks started to pretend that they could hit an occasional 3-pointer once a week. This is where the Lakers lost the game.

Rui Hachimura has to do better than this.

This writer wants to make it perfectly clear that this guy has talent. This was a great trade for the Lakers in theory for three second-round picks and Kendrick Nunn. Now it’s up to Rui Hachimura to start making a difference. Outside of a couple of games, has anyone seen any contributions of any magnitude? There was his debut and the Knicks game, anything else?

With LeBron out of the lineup, this is the time for Rui to show the Lakers what he can do assuming he wants an extension this upcoming offseason.

Rui finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds and a block. This ain’t it Lakers fans, this ain’t it.

AD got in foul trouble…

Which makes the Rui criticism even more glaring!

The story of the Los Angeles Lakers loss: 

Well…the march starts on (Checking the calendar)…Saturday!

The Los Angeles Lakers were in no danger of winning this game. The fact that they didn’t pack it up and fold is enough.

Saturday night will be a different story.

LeBron James will be back in the lineup possibly with all of the new players to the roster. They have about 30 games to turn this debacle around and it seems that LeBron’s months-long media spin worked to get the front office to do something. Respect due.

LeBron James…the season starts in two days with the most difficult remaining schedule in the NBA . Good luck